Change of Outlook

The Easter story is all about change. Change of heart, of focus, of perspective, of life. The pair of travelers on the Road to Emmaus had not yet understood the totality of the change that had happened. As they walked along, “They were talking with each other about everything that had happened…Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.” (Luke 24: 14-16)

Like Susan and Lucy in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (CS Lewis) the travelers were confronted with something beyond their comprehension. Susan and Lucy see the Witch and her minions torture and kill Aslan. They keep watch throughout the night. As dawn nears, they start “walking aimlessly”. The girls don’t know what to do now that their beloved Aslan is dead. Then the Stone Table cracks! “Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it more magic?”

The pair on their way to the town of Emmaus are just as confused about the events of the past 3 days. They begin to explain to the stranger, “About Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” (Luke 24:19-24)

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the girls get their answer immediately. “Yes!” said a great voice from behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself. “Oh, Aslan!” cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad…”

Jesus doesn’t do anything as dramatic. Instead, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)

Jesus reveals himself via the familiar task of breaking bread.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:30-32)

The pair rush back to Jerusalem where they relate “what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.” (Luke 24:35) It was in the sharing bread that the travelers understood who Jesus was. Their outlook changed. They no longer saw a stranger, they saw their beloved teacher and friend.

Have there been times when you have met someone in an unfamiliar situation, or out of the normal context and not recognized them until they reminded you of the common bond. Children are often astonished to meet their teachers at the grocery store because the teacher is someone who they only know in the context of the classroom. The idea that Ms. Jones has to go grocery shopping can amaze them.

Has there been a time or situation where you didn’t recognize God’s action right away because it wasn’t what you were expecting? How did you eventually understand that it was God?

Next week we’ll continue looking at how God makes us change our outlook and focus, and sometimes our vision of life and mission as we meet the disciples in the time of transition before Pentecost.

Change of Focus

Last week we considered how Mary hearing Jesus call her name changed her from grief stricken into an amazed and delighted emissary who proclaims the first Gospel to the disciples. Sometimes it takes a change of heart to recognize Jesus. Sometimes, it is the focus that needs to be adjusted.

We probably have all heard the story of Thomas, one of the disciples, saddled forever with the title of ‘Doubting’. It happens that Thomas isn’t present when Jesus makes his first Risen appearance to the disciples. His response to the disciples’ announcement of seeing the Risen Lord is somewhat scornful. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) His retort is honest and filled with frustration at missing the opportunity to see the Master. You can hear his hurt. Jesus didn’t wait for him to return before showing up and he was left out.

In truth, he was perhaps more brave and honest than the rest of the group. He was not cringing with them “with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders”. (John 20:19) Despite Mary’s announcement, the disciples still lacked the faith and courage to even go out of their rooms. Thomas, however, was out on the street, perhaps risking his life while getting food or on some other errand for the disciples.

Jesus doesn’t forget Thomas. “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:26-28)

Thomas didn’t really need to physically touch Jesus. He did need to know that he was just as valued as the other disciples. Jesus responds to his unspoken pain and confusion by offering to let him touch the wounds. Jesus then encourages Thomas, and those of us throughout the ages, when he says, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

With Thomas and all the other saints, named and unnamed through the ages, we can claim the Resurrection Power that Chris Tomlin sings about. We are “Living in the light of Your goodness [for] You have given us freedom.” 

More than that, “I'm dressed in Your royalty/Your Holy Spirit lives in me/And I see my past has been redeemed/The new has come.”

Is there some part of you that needs to know that Resurrection Power? Are you begging Jesus to let you see his hands and his side, so you can believe? Know that Jesus WILL give you that glimpse if you are open to it.

Next time, we’ll walk the Road to Emmaus where Jesus helps a pair of travelers change their outlook on events. 

Change of Heart

The Easter season is 50 days--from Easter until Pentecost. As noted last week, the world returns to the normal daily round of work and play, triumph and tragedy. As Christians we still blithely mouth our “Alleluias”, at least on Sunday. What if we were really living like we believed something changed at the empty tomb?

Something did change for Mary of Magdala even before that first Easter morning when she went, with other women, to the grave to do the final anointing of her beloved teacher and friend. Jesus had healed her of 7 demons. (Luke 8:2) We don’t know what they were. Perhaps physical or even psychological issues. That doesn’t really matter. Her life was changed enough that she left Magdala, where she was most likely a prosperous merchant, (certainly not a prostitute) to follow Jesus and minister to him with the other women.

On that first Easter, the other women found that the grave was empty and fled. Mary, remained behind to grieve. Probably an even deeper grief than before because she thinks that someone has desecrated the grave. She cannot even do the last loving thing possible. Her heart is broken. 

When she sees a figure, she assumes he is the gardener and says, “if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him”. It is then that Jesus calls her by name and she recognizes him. (John 20:15)

Jesus speaks her name and she is changed. She understands that something new has come. Her heart is awakened. She “went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

This image has been making the rounds on FB since Easter. “Between the time Mary Magdalene met the Risen Christ…and when she announced his Resurrection to the disciples, [she] was the church on earth, for only to her had been revealed the Paschal mystery.” The church is only active and viable when we tell the story of the Resurrection. It is when our Alleluias resound in the broken world and our faith is seen in our lives that the Gospel is proclaimed. Mary, known as the Apostle or Evangelist to the Disciples was indeed the church in the world by herself, until she shared the Good News.

It was Jesus’ lovingly calling her by name (John 20:16) that made her recognize him. Did your parents have a pet name for you? Or was there a special tone when they said your name lovingly or proudly? Can you remember a deeper tenderness in their voice that told you that you were loved?

Imagine Jesus saying your name in that way. Revelation says we will have a new name, perhaps Jesus is calling you by a new name today. Calling you to reimagine yourself as God sees you. Listen for that voice. Hear that tender tone say your name.

Next week, we’ll meet someone else whom Jesus meets right where he is-in the midst of anger and hurt. 

Easter is Change

Easter Day has come and gone. In the eyes of the world, Easter is over. There’s a meme making the rounds on Facebook noting that Easter lasts 50 days-until Pentecost. However, mostly life has moved on. Even in our churches, the Easter lilies are drooping. Clergy and everyone involved in all the services of Holy Week and Easter are tired, and secretly glad that Easter 2 is a ‘low Sunday’.

What has happened to the Alleluias? Where are the burning bushes we noticed throughout Lent?

The streets have returned to their regular rhythm. The homes and people have returned to the daily tasks and struggles. The news abounds with shootings and disasters and conflict.

Where is the change that should have happened?

As the hymn Christ is Alive (#182, Hymnal 1982) says, ‘Christ is alive, let Christians sing. His cross stands empty to the sky. Let streets and homes with praises ring. His Love in death shall never die.”

Brian A. Wren is author of the text. He wrote the words in April 1968. Wren notes, “It was written for Easter Sunday, two weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I could not let Easter go by without speaking of this tragic event which was on all our minds. . . . The hymn tries to see God's love winning over tragedy and suffering in the world. . . . There is tension and tragedy in these words, not just Easter rejoicing.’ 

The hymn goes on “Christ is alive! No longer bound to distant years in Palestine, he comes to claim the here and now and conquer every place and time.”

Since it is true that in Christ’s Resurrection, God has reclaimed the ‘here and now’, we should still be running around shouting ‘Alleluias’ to everyone we meet. It’s way too easy, though, to get dragged down by the appearances and challenges of the world we live in. But Christ is here, “Not throned above, remotely high, untouched, unmoved by human pains, but daily in the midst of life, our Savior with the Father reigns.”

As Wren’s hymn reminds us, Christ in right in the middle of everything that happens! That should be cause for an Alleluia or two. Even “in every insult, rift, and war where color, scorn or wealth divide, he suffers still, yet loves the more, and lives, though ever crucified.”

We, as witnesses to the Risen One, are called to stand up against those things that divide, to speak up for those who have no voice, and to proclaim the victory.

With Wren we can announce, “Christ is alive! His Spirit burns through this and every future age, till all creation lives and learns his joy, his justice, love and praise.”

We have seen the empty tomb and are called to ‘go and make disciples of all’. Even more than in Epiphany, we need to ‘go tell it’.

Over the next few weeks, until Pentecost, we’ll consider some of the ways Easter might change us by looking at how the experience changed the early followers.

Happy Easter

And then he rose from the dead. Not everyone saw or believed. Most of them, to quote Elizabeth Barrett Browning “sit around it and pluck blackberries”. The women at the grave and the disciples behind closed doors though, discovered that “Earth is crammed with heaven,/And every bush is aflame with God.”

May you find the burning bush of God this Easter. 

Mary Magdalene & Jesus from the Saint John's Bible

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ (John 20:1-21)