Day in the Church Year: 3rd Sunday of Easter
Scripture Passage: Luke 24:36b-48
In the gospel of Luke, the women come to the tomb with spices early on Easter morning. When they arrive, they meet two men in dazzling clothes who ask them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen.” Later that day while walking along the road to Emmaus, two followers of Jesus meet a stranger who talks with them about the death and reported resurrection of Jesus and then opens up the scriptures to them. When they arrive at Emmaus and sit down at the table together, the stranger takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. Their eyes are opened. It is Jesus. But he vanishes from their sight. These two rush to tell the disciples, “The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon!” And in the middle of the conversation about how they recognized Jesus as the stranger breaking the bread, suddenly, Jesus appears to them all in today’s reading.
Each Easter Sunday and throughout the season of Easter, we joyously proclaim: Christ is risen! To which you respond: Christ is risen indeed! This Easter proclamation comes from the 24th chapter of Luke. These words announce our hope, our joy, our confidence in the power of God. But on that first Easter, it is not all hope. It is not all joy. It is not all confidence in the power of God. For the women at the empty tomb and for the followers who only recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, “He is risen” is a puzzlement. Even when the followers declare, “The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon!” they still ask themselves, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road?” When Jesus appears among them in the passage of scripture we read today, quite suddenly, his presence is not met with sighs of relief, shouts of joy, and hugs all around. Jesus starts with “Peace be with you” because they are startled and terrified and think they are seeing a ghost. Jesus shows them his wounds, asks to eat in their presence, to further assure them of his real-ness, and then opens their minds to understand the scriptures. Yet, still, they persist in wonderment and disbelief.
There is a space between “Christ is risen” and “Christ is risen indeed.” To hear the announcement of Christ’s glorious resurrection is one thing. To respond, “Indeed“ and “alleluia” is another. Because, at least at first glance, Christ’s new life, Christ’s risen life is not all hope, joy, and confidence. New life does not mean the old life resuscitated. New life does not mean reverting back to life the way it was before, no matter how great it was. For the disciples, Christ’s risen life, Christ’s new life does not mean they will again travel with Jesus from place to place as he heals, teaches, feeds, and befriends people. New life means something entirely new, something the disciples and we cannot anticipate or plan for or control.
This Easter, we rejoice when we hear “Christ is risen,” but responding “Christ is risen indeed” at least partly means letting go of the old life and embracing whatever new life is breaking forth in our presence. To say “Christ is risen indeed” is not simply an affirmation of an age-old story but also a somewhat terrifying relinquishment of control. We who are fond of 5-year strategic plans and our daily routines, we may struggle to embrace Christ’s risen life, with Christ’s new life. Maybe we are happy with our old lives. The old lives we can control and understand and predict, each year unfolding like all the years before, with perfect regularity.
On Easter Sunday at both our worship service in the courtyard and during live stream worship, I asked how we all practice resurrection. Many of you responded insightfully and thoughtfully, from saying hello to people who are determined to be grumpy to taking care of ourselves when we could be consumed by despair to practicing gratitude and forgiveness to serving others. At worship in the courtyard, Ursula raised her hand and said: “Grace is a resurrection church, and I’m part of Grace.” Grace is a resurrection church. We are a resurrection people who embrace the new, risen life of Christ, personally and communally. On a really concrete level, there’s not much for us to do but to be present to what God is doing, to show up for what God is leading us to do, to walk forward even when we are afraid. We do not and cannot control the new, risen life of Christ breaking forth among us any more than the disciples could stop Jesus from showing up among them to say “Peace be with you.”
What Christ’s new, risen life looks like here and now, I can’t really tell you until we walk into it together. The plan, for all those of us who want a plan, is that, when Christ’s new, risen life breaks forth among us, either individually or communally, we will embrace it even though we might be scared. Today, I invite us to practice mindfulness for just a moment. Mindfulness is simply becoming aware of what we can perceive through our five senses as well as tracking the thoughts of our minds. When we are caught up in our thoughts, we can miss what is right in front of us. My hope is that by practicing mindfulness today and moving forward, we might become aware of Christ’s new, risen life breaking forth among us instead of getting stuck in old habits and patterns, fears and thoughts about what we believe should happen.
Please put both your feet on the floor, hands at rest in your lap or on the arms of a chair. Breath in. Breath out. What do you smell? Taste? Touch? Hear? See? What thoughts are entering your mind? Where and how is Christ’s new, risen life breaking open? Breath in. Breath out.
We have heard: Christ is risen. Will we respond? Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.