In returning to the beginning of the story, we come to see how Jesus got here, how we got here, and what we’re called to about it.
Easter invites us to remember the beginning
Easter | Luke 24:1-12
Way back at the beginning, we learned about this old couple. Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest, so he wasn’t just a holy man at that time and he didn’t serve a church in the Midwest. He had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem and bring incense into the sanctuary.
Suddenly an angel appeared to Zechariah. He was standing right next to the altar.
Of course, Zechariah freaked out. Angels have to be used to this reception by now because their responses are always the same: Don’t be afraid. You have nothing to fear. And that’s exactly what the angel told Zechariah.
He told Zechariah that God had made his prayers for a child come true and that his son would become John the Baptist, and prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.
This is a great opening story, but it isn’t done. Like all great opening scenes, it doesn’t go the way we expect. Because Zechariah is skeptical the angel binds his tongue in his unbelief — until it happens.
It is also a bit of a feint because the bigger story isn’t about Zechariah or Elizabeth, or their son. The story is about the Good News. The story is the story.
And the story Luke tells has come a long way from that opening.
The Story
This morning we celebrate the risen Christ. And to make sense of why that is indeed good news, and why this book opens with this story, we need to talk about a few things.
We’re going to talk about nets, flip-flops, magic tricks, stories, homecoming, and the clue which makes sense of the whole thing.
Nets
So Luke begins with two Mothers-to-be, carrying divine babies. It’s not the kind of story you read like it’s the newspaper. It’s like reading Flannery O’Connor: beautiful and deep.
And the story moves quickly as Jesus is baptized, drawn into the wilderness, and goes home to preach for the first time. It doesn’t go well.
But then Jesus finds these fishermen who’ve come in from a long, fruitless night of fishing, and he’s like, I’ve got an idea. How about we go back out. Somehow, the fish come from nowhere, the nets are bursting, they pull the haul in, and it almost sinks two boats.
The fishermen are afraid and Jesus tells them there’s no reason to fear. God could use their fishing skills for another job.
Flip-Flops
So Jesus starts collecting students like these fishermen. Not the best students or children of powerful parents. Common people from all over. People with a variety of backgrounds.
And Jesus is healing people everywhere. Which draws a lot of attention.
But they haven’t been at it long when he names 12 of his students as the cream of the crop. He sends them out with nothing but the clothes on their back and the sandals on their feet. He tells them to go flip-flop all over and do what I do.
So they do. And when they come flip-flopping back, they’re surprised. Jesus, it really worked! {knowing look} Yep.
So he sends out all his students, all 70 of them to flip-flop everywhere. Not to tell people about Jesus, but to share the good news that God has come into the world. And God comes as a healing force, not a destroyer.
And just like the 12, all the disciples come back amazed.
Magic Tricks
These stories are so central to the good news, we forget about them. We’re so often like the crowds, taken in by the miraculous. One of my favorite stories is the Feeding of the Multitudes: when Jesus feeds over 5000 people with just 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread.
The miracles are beautiful, but we treat them like magic tricks. The willful suspension of disbelief for a moment’s enjoyment. But we rarely go around believing any of us can saw a person in half.
Jesus seems to warn us about these miracles because we’re bound to miss the real magic for the tricks.
Stories
But when Jesus tells stories, we pay attention. Stories like the unlikely traveler who saves a stranger’s life. But if we paid attention to our world, we’d realize this traveler is precisely the one most likely to do it.
Stories of lost sheep, coins, and sons. And the celebrations we share with our friends every time the lost is found. And when the dead come back to life.
Jesus’s stories presume that God is in the business of giving life to the dead.
Homecoming
Throughout the gospel we call Luke, Jesus is collecting students, traveling the countryside, and teaching everyone about the beautiful world we could have if we truly believed it was possible. If we trusted God enough. And trusted each other enough to make it happen.
And he brings us along for the ride, this journey which crisscrosses the country until he turns his face toward Jerusalem. There he would confront the authorities and face his own death.
Jesus’s followers think it’s a glorious homecoming, but it isn’t.
Like the angels, Jesus keeps telling us “don’t be afraid.” That fear is something we should let go of. Like fear is the thing which prevents us from seeing or hearing or believing what is really happening.
This terrible homecoming ends in Jesus’s death; but not in a passive way. This is not a moment for abstraction; like death happened to be in the neighborhood and oops! stumbled in.
Specific humans killed him. Roman authorities put him on a cross and killed him. These powerful people killed Jesus out of fear.
Thank God the story doesn’t end there!
A Clue
So now, it’s the third day. Jesus died at the end of the first day, then there’s a day of silence and mourning. Now, early on the third day, the women come to the tomb.
They walk up to find these angels instead of a dead body. And these angels say one of my favorite lines in scripture:
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
Isn’t that fantastic?
What are you doing, looking here for Jesus? He told you where he’d be!
What a great sentiment! It sounds absurd…from this side of the veil.
From the other side, though? They can’t believe how these people can’t see what they see. He told you, didn’t he? Where he would be? What you are to do? What are you guys even doing here?
So we get to look back at this whole story like these angels from the other side. We get to see about the nets and the flip flops and the magic tricks and the stories and this dark homecoming and see what Jesus was up to the whole time.
Why these students shouldn’t even try to find Jesus among the dead. They’re the ones who know better! Jesus is in the living!
The clue was that they were students. Disciples learn from a rabbi so that they can become rabbis themselves. So they won’t find Jesus among the dead because they are to be among the living.
The point is to trust
Our big story begins with an example of distrust. The angel comes to Zechariah to tell him that God has broken into the world. God has changed it so that he and Elizabeth would have a baby.
The angel came to them with a gift. And he refused to trust it.
So what these two angels are saying to the women is Trust him! He told you he wouldn’t be here. And where he would be.
And what happens when they take the good news back to the men? They don’t believe them. They don’t trust them. Until Peter checks it out. OK.
But what happens at the very end of the gospel of Luke? They finally trust.
So what’s next?
Do we go to the tomb to see for ourselves? Or do we trust the word of a friend; someone we trust? Or maybe even a stranger we meet along the road?
We’re not going to find Jesus in the tomb any more than we’ll find certainty in control. But we might find love when we share the love. Hope when we share hope. Grace when we share grace.
- We might find that stilling our fear brings new joy.
- The grace of God brings new challenges.
- That the clothes don’t make the evangelist.
- Our faith shouldn’t be dependent on magic tricks.
- Our stories are full of life.
- We must face our challenges and trust in Jesus.
Or we might be brought back to our beginning, to our memories of loved ones and times when we have experienced real joy. Maybe a time when we’ve received uncommon support and true generosity. Perhaps it’s some story which comes to mind that reminds us of what Jesus always teaches.
Love. Love. Love. Each other. God. Love and trust each other. Keep it up. And then I will be with you. For ever.