St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, April 8, 2007

Easter Morning

Jesus is on the Loose! – Rev. David Mundy

John 20:1-18

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Many of you have told me that you love the Children’s Time when the younger members of our church family come to the front and spend a few minutes with me. It’s humbling, because it’s not because of what I say but because of what they offer. It can be so unpredictable that it catches us all off guard. I would appreciate a little more compassion because it can be challenging for the person on the “hot seat!”

These comments bring to mind a story from a colleague in ministry about the children’s time one Easter morning. She took the opportunity to unfold the discovery of the empty tomb for the children. She told them that when the followers of Jesus arrived to grieve they found that the stone which sealed the grave had been rolled away and instead of finding the battered body of their master and friend there was nothing more than grave clothes.

Then she asked the question, because there is nearly always a question in children’s times, “What do you think the empty tomb meant?” She assumed that one of them would answer along the lines of “Christ has risen!” She liked the response she got much more. “Jesus is on the loose!” one of them joyfully declared.

Brilliant. Jesus is on the loose! Children can be s insightful without even trying, can’t they? What an unconventional and wonderful way to describe what brings us together this morning for what is always the biggest service of the year, but also the one which has the potential to be the most conventional. We sing the familiar hymns – or at least some --and we hear the familiar words of the Easter story. We could actually forget that what we are told makes the gospels “gospel” or Good News begins with fear. That apprehension becomes the joy of Easter because Jesus is out there, somewhere, rather than where he is supposed to be, in the grave. In the account from John’s gospel, which we heard today, Mary can’t even recognize Jesus to begin with because she is so overcome with grief. Then her cry of “teacher” is the recognition that everything has changed.

There is a striking piece of sculpture created by Paul Granlund called Resurrection. The figure of Christ is shown bent over, knees and head nearly touching. The arms are outstretched in a position of crucifixion. The figure is bound on three sides by slabs of the tomb and beneath by the earth. There is so much energy in Christ, though, and there is no doubt that the movement of the body is upward and out. Christ cannot be contained, as though he is breaking free of earth’s gravity. The walls of death are not strong enough to prevail against the power of the God of new life.

It isn’t just on Easter morning that Jesus is on the loose. You are probably aware that in the church year Easter is not just a day, it is a season which is seven weeks long to give us the opportunity to hear some of the other stories that became part of the resurrection tradition for the early Christian church.

The same day that Mary made her declaration “I have seen the Lord” Jesus walked with two followers as they made their way to the village of Emmaus. It wasn’t until they broke bread together at the end of the journey that the travellers realized who had been with them. Jesus is on the loose.

That evening the disciples locked the doors and hid away out of fear of the authorities and yet Jesus came to them anyway saying “Peace be with you.” One of the disciples named Thomas wasn’t around when this happened and he was skeptical about what he was told. A week later Jesus comes to Thomas and the others and Thomas declares “My Lord and my God.” Jesus is on the loose.

Later Jesus came to some of the disciples as they returned to the “tried and true” work of fishing on the lake of Tiberias which we call the Sea of Galilee. Peter jumps out of the boat and makes his way to Jesus on the shore where he has made breakfast for his friends.

These days we hear many challenges to these stories about a Jesus who is raised from the dead and alive in the world. For a couple of years the fuss was over a novel called The Da Vinci Code which some treated as fact rather than fiction.

More recently it is documentary by James Cameron of Titanic fame and a Canadian researcher which claims that the ossuaries or bone boxes of Jesus and his wife and family have been discovered. It doesn’t matter that many archeologists and biblical scholars have challenged the accuracy of this supposedly new research. For some reason people seem eager to discredit the message of Easter promise.

These stories which are supposedly earthshattering and novel really aren’t new at all. Through the centuries there have been many who would keep Jesus in the grave and challenged the Good News of the resurrection.

Perhaps there are skeptics here today who struggle with the credibility of these resurrection stories. After all, the gospel writers were probably “ear witnesses” rather than “eye witnesses” as scholar Raymond Brown puts it, getting the story from others. And yet people believed that Jesus came to them in the most unlikely circumstances and walked and talked with them and broke bread with them. Something extra-ordinary happened for these people. Their experience of Christ was so powerful that they were willing to endure rejection and persecution as they told their resurrection stories, and they managed to do so with joy and confidence.

It’s important to remember that the gospels don’t attempt to describe the resurrection. There is only before and after, and the after is the Good News that Jesus meets people where they are, and when he does, life is not the same for them. They are no longer timid or afraid and they have a message that has to be shared.

We come this Easter morning in the hope that Jesus is not just a ghostly apparition from our religious memory or a legend told to comfort children. Jesus is the Christ and one of the many miracles of this day is that he still comes to us in the ways he did two thousand years ago.

Jesus meets us in our loneliness and despair and grief. When we are convinced that all is lost and that there is no way forward we discover that he is with us to offer comfort and wisdom.

Jesus sends us out to exhibit love and compassion to others who are hungry for hope.

All of us here this morning are “ear witnesses” rather than “eye witnesses,” but that doesn’t mean our testimony isn’t of value. What is special about today then? In a way, every Sunday morning is a little Easter, with a resurrection promise for each new week. On this holy day we can ask whether Jesus has entered our lives in a way that has changed us and given us the courage and hope we require for today and tomorrow. When the child responded to my colleague in ministry it was not in the past tense. We are meant to be Christians in the here-and-now.

Do we believe that Christ is “on the loose” in this congregation? I’m convinced that it is only as we let Christ join us and walk with us in our life as a community that we will flourish and thrive. Resurrection faith isn’t something we find in the back of our hymn book and recite. It is more than what we say. It is what we live, both here and out there, wherever “out there” might be for us.

How can we remind ourselves that Jesus is still alive in the world and that every Sunday morning is a little Easter when we celebrate the resurrection? I have something which can help us, and it is called the Jesus Doll. Every Sunday morning Jesus can sit with us at the Children’s Time as a way of saying that Christ is a part of everything we do. Each week I’m going to ask one of the children to bring Jesus into our midst as a reminder of his constant life-changing presence.

When we see this, we will remember that Jesus is our teacher, and friend and saviour. Jesus is the Christ who brings new life and eternal life

When I ordered this Jesus, I asked how many the company has made. The answer astounded me – 30,000! This reminder of Jesus is in congregations and nursery schools and seniors centres all over the place!

Our Easter promise is that Jesus is on the loose. Thanks be to God. Amen!