Hope and the Risen Christ
Great Vigil of Easter | Mark 16:1-8
Isn’t it glorious to gather this Easter night? To celebrate in the Light of Christ? To sing alleluias and praise God for this moment of true grace?
And I love that we do so with this gospel which ends with fear. Because it is perfect for the moment and totally not what we’d expect. I love it because it says so much. But only to those of us who followed Jesus through wilderness, who gathered along with the disciples, saw the miracles, and tasted the loaves and fishes.
If we were there along the way, we also witnessed Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is Messiah—and his mistake in trying to prevent his death. We’d see the disciples make miracles along the way and then fail to heal a boy when Jesus left them for a day.
If we followed him to Jerusalem, we’d already know what he would face. We’d see his frustration at us for not getting it all. His disappointment with the leaders and tradition for missing the point and oppressing their people. We’d see his outrage at abuse and his rejection of empire and economic exploitation.
If we were with him for the passover, we’d see his generosity to all of them, including Judas. And then the betrayal in the garden, the trial, the torture, the crucifixion. We would see the very stuff Jesus told us would happen.
If we’d experienced every bit of that, then hopefully we also were listening when he told us about trust and hope.
Hope is our Manna.
It isn’t ridiculous expectation. Or the sense of doing something and preparing it to have a radically different outcome.
Hope is hearing Jesus tell us that he would be raised and then he was.
And that’s why we gathered in the dark to light a new fire and hear the stories of God’s faith in us. And we know we totally don’t deserve it! But it is God’s hope—God’s faith in us that we have Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is a pure expression of hope and faith.
So we show the least bit we can muster and remind each other of this. Of God’s hope when it is we who need it. We remember God’s hope in Christ and humanity. And we face the night to remember exactly what it is to hope.
Jesus said God would raise him from the dead on the third day.
And he is risen!
Good Friday doesn’t feel like a day of hope, but it is. And we arrived here today because of hope.
That Response
Now, when the women came to the tomb, did they hope that Jesus was right? Did the disciples?
I’m pretty confident we can say they didn’t. Why would they? They watched him die.
He said he’d be back, but…
And had he ever been wrong? No…but…
Something stopped them from hoping. We gloss over and call it a lack of trust or perhaps “being realistic”. And honestly everyone in this room is going to be the disciples at the tomb or the ones back in the upper room freaking out. They’re not doing anything we wouldn’t be doing?
Even though they saw him raise people from the dead! They still couldn’t trust his promise that God would do this for him.
It is all truly unbelievable.
Which is why, when they see the tomb empty, they freak out.
Isn’t that the most human response? We freak out when somebody lights the candles in the wrong order. Can you imagine how we’d respond? Basketcases—all of us.
But this is my favorite part:
They talk about it.
These women preach the gospel.
It doesn’t say that, of course. This is where the gospel ends. On their running away in fear.
But we have the story because they told somebody.
We take that last line:
“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
and we return to the very first one:
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
It begins at the empty tomb. It’s how we know this is Good News. That he is the Christ and Son of God.
Their fear leads to their testimony of faith. They proclaim the Good News. These women preach the risen Christ. And so do we.
Let us celebrate!
With joy and gratitude. For the hope and faith that sustains us. That encourages us and demands so much of us. That challenges and honors our work of love.
Let us show God’s glory in a world focused on other things. Things that discourage or diminish our most precious resource: hope.
And let us feast on the rich food of our faith. As generous as manna from heaven. As sustaining as daily bread. And as true and equal as the promise God’s love.
Because today we know anything is possible.
And God’s way of love, of life destroys death in all of its forms. Through our faith. And our hope in a most generous and faithful God.