110424 - Yr A - Easter Sunday

Holy Week 2011
***Easter is a wonderful time of renewal and rebirth, but we must remember that the road to Easter must lead through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  To skip the darker, harder stuff is to cheat ourselves out of understanding the depth of what Easter really means***
That being said, we'll be looking at the Easter Sunday readings this week.

Matthew 28:1-10

Verses
28:1 - "the other Mary" - what a weird phrase (probably the mother of James)
28:2 - feel an earthquake - notice who rolled the stone away
28:3 - see an angel - recalls the transfiguration - making this the 3rd part of the baptism/transfiguration/resurrection trilogy
28:4 - suggests the guards saw this too - paralyzed by fear
28:5 - hear a message - "do not be afraid" - a constant biblical refrain - contrast with guards
28:6 - "has been raised" - see below
28:7 - women are the first to see, and tell
28:8 - fear and great joy - yup! (One scholar comments that their state is like that of those about to be married!)
28:9 - Greetings - an odd salutation? - took hold of his feet?
28:10 - "do not be afraid" - a second time!

Thoughts
Jesus was resurrected, not resuscitated.

• What's the difference?
• Why do you think some folks get so hung up on "bodily" resurrection?

(see this link for a good Marcus Borg article explaining this, and notice the commenters taking umbridge at him!)

Let's ask a really basic question.

• Why does resurrection matter?

Jesus lives!

• Discuss!

He is risen.
He has been raised.
He arose.

• What's the difference between these sentences?
• Which one(s) are biblical?
• Why does that matter?

The big question at Easter time is not concerned with how the Resurrection works, but rather what does the Resurrection mean to you?

• How are we resurrected by God?
• When are we resurrected by God?
• Why are we resurrected by God?

(notice who does the resurrecting in all my questions!!!!)

This story is a series of messages.

• Other than Easter Sunday morning, how do we share the message that "he is risen"?
• One commentator said "They had a mission couched as a message." - Discuss

There are volumes upon volumes discussing the intricate details of the resurrection narratives from every angle imaginable.

• Why does this subject get (and need) such a thorough treatment?

For your enjoyment and consideration:
A single life among many lives.
Here
among us, out from us,
and yet this power, this essence,
was not from us at all,
for the Christpower that was seen in Jesus
is finally of God.
And even when the darkness of death overwhelmed him,
the power of life resurrected him;
for Christpower is life
eternal,
without beginning, without ending.
It is the secret of creation.
It is the goal of humanity.
Here in this life we glimpse
that immortal
invisible
most blessed
most glorious
almighty life-giving force
of this universe
in startling completeness
in a single person.
Men and women tasted the power that was in him
and they were made whole by it.
They entered a new freedom,
a new being.
They knew resurrection and what it means to live
in the Eternal Now.
So they became agents of that power,
sharing those gifts from generation to generation,
creating and re-creating,
transforming, redeeming,
making all things new.

(John Shelby Spong. Christpower.  Richmond, VA. Thomas Hale, 1975; Republished Haworth N.J. St. Johann Press, 2007.)
Shalom, and Happy Easter!