They Tried, But He Rose: The Power of Easter Transformation: A sermon on Matthew 28: 1 – 15
Why get up so early?
Early Easter morning, before dawn, the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s lifeless body. I’ve always wondered: Why drag yourself out of bed so early and make your way while it’s still dark, risking bruised shins and twisted ankles on the rocky path? I mean, what was the hurry? He’d be just as dead a couple of hours later after the sun rose. Why not wait?
Some people suggest that the fact that the male disciples weren’t with the women implies that the anointing ritual was considered “women’s work.” I don’t know about that. There’s nothing that indicates anointing was a gender assigned role. I sense that it wasn’t women’s work but busy work.
Busy work.
What I do know about is sleepless nights after you lose someone and how you want to keep busy to keep from just sitting there thinking about it nonstop. I remember that after a friend died, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and spent the day cleaning the garage. Maybe you’ve been there. Perhaps you clean, cook, organize, run errands, build something, or find some means of distracting yourself. It’s a natural response when something bad happens–we want to do something constructive.
The women tended to the death rituals of their culture. Rituals help. It gives a sense of order when your life has been thrown into chaos.
For some, just getting out of bed is a victory. Just getting dressed, driving around with no destination, or showing up—these are acts of resilience. We have so many opportunities to be mindful of this truth. Not everyone feels like it is their best day ever. Some are barely holding it together. If you only knew their struggles, you’d give them grace. Sometimes, just being present is all they can do.
The male disciples should have been there to roll away the stone. The women worried about how they’d move the stone sealing the tomb away. But the dudes were hiding, worried the authorities would execute them, too.
Why was the stone there?
Why was the stone there? Matthew tells us the religious leaders informed Pilate of how Jesus said he would rise again on the third day. So, he had the tomb sealed with a heavy stone, assuming that even if he did get up, he would die again inside that tomb, and no one would be the wiser. Additionally, he posted guards to ensure that no one could steal the body and claim he had risen. And after that failed, they told the guards to lie.
Why were they so concerned about this? Because the first rule of authoritarian regimes (like Pilate’s) is to keep people from believing things can be different. They want to keep ordinary folks who suffered under the system from hoping and envisioning a more just system that treats them with dignity. And that’s precisely what Jesus had promised–a new kind of kingdom, one that gave people hope, one that was not based on the powerful dominating and domineering the little guy. They didn’t kill Jesus for being a nice guy, with children on bended knee. They killed him because his way and message were and are a threat to oppressive regimes and all projects that belittle, exclude, and turn people against each other.
He preached a kingdom based on truth, personal integrity, fairness for all. Instead of ruling by fear and threats, and demonizing poor people and foreigners, he talked about love, compassion, and welcoming the outsider. They tried to kill these hopes by killing Jesus and making sure his message died on the cross. They tried. But God had other plans!
Religious leaders tried to stop his message, too.
And don’t forget that it wasn’t Pilate alone who tried to stop Jesus’ message. The corrupt religious establishment was in on it, too. They wanted Jesus’ message stuck in that tomb.
If people believe he is alive, we Pharisees can’t manipulate them anymore. If people think he’s alive, we lose our power and privilege. If people think he’s alive, they will erase all the boundaries we draw to show who’s good and bad, who’s in and out of God’s circle of care. If people think he’s alive, they’ll believe that anyone can get their sins forgiven without our approval.
If people think he’s alive, they’ll let adulterous women off the hook. They’ll make us give back the property we took from widows. They’ll make us start shelters and hospitals, doing something more humane and bothersome than shunning people to the outskirts of town. They’ll make empathy sound like a virtue.
If people believed Jesus’ message was alive, they would live and die for his cause. They would stand unafraid before any enemy. They would face bad news with unshakable hope, declaring, “Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.” They would resist evil in whatever form it presents itself, heal the sick, and claim victory over despair. They would never give up, trusting that “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord.”
What came out of the tomb.
When the women got to the tomb, they discovered that the stone had already been rolled away. How many times have you found that God had already dealt with the things you were worried about and what didn’t happen is a sign of resurrection?
There are lots of questions about what happened or didn’t happen on Easter. But let’s stick with what is incontrovertible. History changed that day because the disciples changed. His ideas rose and lived on in the disciples. No more hiding, but living out loud, loving out loud no matter who or what got in the way.
I like the Mexican proverb: They tried to kill us but they only planted seeds. They tried to kill Jesus to shut him up, but they only planted seeds that took root and grew in the disciples and have spread through the generations to us today.
What went in is different than what came out.
Death went into the tomb but life came out of it. The tomb can represent any dark time, transition period where we may go in one way, but come out another. We may go into a situation angry, bitter, and sour that things are not going our way, but we may emerge from the experience with renewed energy and purpose.
Think of Church as being something like In-and-Out Burger. We come in feeling one way, but emerge feeling more energized, connected to God and others, refreshed in our perspective.
In Jesus’ tomb, a rule-based, score-keeping religion went in, and an authentic, experiential spirituality came out. The old, worn-out theology of an angry, punishing God in the Sky went into the tomb, and out of the tomb rose the God who is present in all things, and will be a comforting, helping source through all the things you go through.
They are still trying.
The same impulses that made people try to stop Jesus’ message are still alive today.
- They are trying to erase history
- They are trying to get you to accept lying and spin when they hide truth.
- They are trying to make us believe that being Christian means being uncaring toward others, to be cruel to those who are not like you.
- They are gaslighting us to believe that bullying is actually strength.
- They are trying to say empathy is a sin.
But Jesus got up, and so can you.
Has anybody here got a “they tried” story? I remember a young man who was told he’d never amount to anything because of a learning disability. Today, he runs a nonprofit helping others overcome their challenges. They tried to stop him, but he rose above it. They tried to hurt me. They tried to slander my reputation. They tried to spread lies about me. They tried to define me by my worst moment instead of my best intentions.
That’s why they feared the story and wanted it to stay dead. They lose their power over you, and you get to live for yourself, unencumbered by their lies and attempts to put you down. The power of this story is about the power for you to come to new life, full life.
They can try all they want. All I can say is he rose. His message rose. It lives on. Hit me with your best shot. The message will live on.
Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed!