>>Well on this Easter morning. It’s wonderful to be with you here, this community that gathers, but also the many people who are joining us by way of television. A happy and blessed Easter to all of you. I’ve always thought it was quite extraordinary that the church has not chosen for the Easter readings, one of the texts that recount Jesus appearing as the risen Lord to the disciples. 

In fact, here on the day in which Jesus rises from the dead, Jesus is nowhere to be found. It’s quite extraordinary. The first moment in which the disciples realized that Jesus rose from the dead, he’s not present. I’ve always said that had I staged the resurrection, I probably would have done it differently. I would have had Jesus show up at Pilots or [indiscernible] house, and made it the biggest “I told you so!” in the history of humanity. 

[congregation chuckles] 

But maybe that was a bit too Hollywood for Jesus. And in fact, what this gospel text tells us and what Jesus is telling us as the Risen Lord, is that we are to find and understand what it means for Him to rise from the dead in the human experiences that we have. And there are three different experiences that we are given here in the three different people that are there at that first day of the week.  

We see, first of all, Mary Magdalene. It’s dark, early morning. She probably didn’t sleep all night. She was there at the cross with the other women and Mary. And she grieves the loss of Jesus. But there’s something in her that sparks the need to go to the tomb. There’s something in her that believes that maybe this isn’t the end of the story and she has to go there. She brings oils, yes to anoint the dead body of Jesus, but there’s also something that tells her that there’s more to the story of Jesus.  

How true in our own lives as well, moments in which we have lost, we have found ourselves vulnerable because of coming up short in life. There’s something here that tells us to move forward. Maybe it’s an individual who has received a terrible diagnosis and realizes that, yes, this illness will end in death, but there is something more to their life in terms of the quality that can still be lived as they love those around them. Or someone who loses financially and many things in their lives are put at risk. There’s something that motivates them to go forward. Or the individual who has an addiction who finds as though they’re trapped in this slavery of addiction. A spark that maybe life can be different.  

Some years ago when my father died, my mother had a very difficult time. They were married for 57 years and it was a huge hole in her life. So, what she did when she asked the people in the cemetery to place a candle over my father’s grave on his birthday, their anniversary and other important days in their family. And she had the advantage of being able to see that candle because she lived next door to the cemetery. But it was just that little bit that gave her comfort, that little spark of faith that she held on to. That is where we experience the Risen Lord working in our life. In those moments in which we suffer great desperation and a sense of loss. And yet there’s something more that allows us to press on.  

And then we have Peter. Peter goes, he’s the first one to come into the tomb of Jesus. Mary doesn’t go in. And at first, John doesn’t. But it’s symbolic that Peter does because he was not at the cross while the other two were. He has to face the fact that Jesus died, something he ran away from, in fact denied as he three times denied that he was with Jesus. He had to accept the death that was there, but also realize that that wasn’t the end of the story. How often in life, we are afraid to take up challenges. Maybe to move in a direction because we know it’s going to cost us something that we have to die to ourselves.  

I did a wedding a number of years ago for a young couple, and that summer after the wedding, I was at a lake shore overlooking the lake, and there were this nice Hobie Catamaran boat there. And I was talking to the groom, the man who is just married earlier in the year. It was his father’s catamaran. And he said, “Next year I’m going to have one of those. Next year, when we come here, I’m going to have my boat out here.” Well, next year rolled around and there’s no second boat. So I said to him, Bryan, I see you didn’t get your boat. And he said, “Yes,” as he looked down at his newborn son in his arms. He said, “But what a great trade off.” Here he, in some way had to die to the things that he thought were important. And when he did, something greater happened in life.  

There is an experience in our life as well in which we find that so often we’re afraid of making a sacrifice for something greater than ourselves, volunteering for an effort, being a part of something bigger than ourselves, because it’s going to cost us time. And yet we find out in those moments that our lives are enriched as a result. That’s where the risen Lord is, where we discover him. 

And finally, we see that that’s John, the one that Jesus loved. He was able to believe because Jesus believed in him, because he had an experience that he was loved. I think of small children, how believing they are and trusting of their parents simply because their parents love them. They had an experience of being loved. And I think of the young people here at Mercy Home, how their lives change around, and they’re able to believe once again in their future and in the world simply because they’re people like you who are here and others who support this wonderful work of Mercy Home that gives them a reason to believe. Because they know that their loved.  

Yes, Jesus doesn’t come with all sorts of pyrotechnics and all sorts of dramatic ways in which he rises from the dead. But this gospel text today reminds us that we should look for him and his power of the resurrection and the ordinary experiences of life.  

In a moment in which we find a reason to move ahead, even though we have been dealt a very serious setback. In a moment in which we have the courage to die to ourselves, in order for something greater to happen. And in a moment in which we really do believe in something greater than ourselves, believe in another person. Believe in Jesus. Because we know that he has loved us.  

In a moment, we’re going to instead of say the Creed, as we do Sunday after Sunday, we’re going to profess our baptismal vows and recommit ourselves to that. It’s all possible simply because the Lord has risen from the dead. And so let us join the voice of John, the beloved disciple and saying, “I believe.” Simply because we know that we are loved.