Easter 4: Empty tomb and Good Shepherd

 We are praying our way through the Easter season—the Great 50 Days between Easter and Pentecost—by considering Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances. We looked at Jesus’ love for Thomas; which met Thomas where he was in his hurt and doubt. Last week we considered how Jesus doesn’t show up just when we expect and are ready for him, but is always present, “in our midst,” even if we metaphorically try to lock the doors.

Today, we return to the Easter morning events found in Luke 24:1-12. The women come to the tomb with the spices they had prepared [for the burial rites]. Instead of Jesus in a sealed tomb, they find the stone rolled away and two men in dazzling clothes. In amazement, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women, tell the disciples Jesus is risen. The men don’t believe them. The only one who responds is Peter who got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened. The Resurrection window in the sacristy of the Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque, NM depicts this event in stunning color.

The women and Peter are amazed by the Resurrection. Of course they are. Such a thing has never happened before. The women, in Luke’s account, don’t see Jesus. They encounter two men in dazzling clothes who remind them that Jesus told them this would happen. Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. Even without a ‘Jesus sighting,’ the women believe.

Unlike Thomas who needs a physical touch and the disciples who need to see Jesus eating to recognize that he is alive, the women accept the angels’ announcement. Then they run to tell their friends.

How often do we hesitate to tell about something amazing God has done in our life? What are some of the ‘resurrections’ in your life? Who might you tell?

 The Gospel for Sunday (John 10:11-18) is one of the times Jesus foretells his death and resurrection. It is also one of the "I am" statements Jesus makes (along with Light, Bread, Life, Vine). He says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep…there will be one flock, one shepherd…I lay [my life] down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.

How can we welcome others into the one fold? Are there invisible walls we have erected by our actions or words that keep some ‘sheep’ out?

Jesus uses the analogy of a shepherd. This would have been familiar to the audience in First Century Israel. It’s not as easy for us to relate to. We might think of first responders running toward danger, or a parent protecting their child, or even a wild animal protecting their young. Psalm 23, also for this Sunday, says, The Lord is my Shepherd…he restores my soul…even though I walk through the valley of death, I will not fear. Jesus says, I lay [my life] down of my own accord to create one flock, one shepherd. It is our duty and call to continue to work of building that ‘beloved community.’

When we allow God, our Good Shepherd to be the path, we can feel secure even in the time we find it hard to recognize that Jesus is present. Present in the empty tomb and lost hopes, present in sorrow and in joy, present when we feel distant. God’s love and shepherding will always be with and for us.

Who might you remind of that good news?

Easter 2: Thomas

 Happy Easter! Resurrection Sunday has come and gone. Chocolate bunnies are history and so are the colored eggs. What about the feeling of new life and resurrection in your own life? It can be hard to hold onto the joy of Easter Day. And for some, there really isn’t personal joy to be found. Life seems just as hard on Easter as any other day. Real joy (not happiness or an ecstatic experience) is still found in recognizing Jesus in the everyday, the mundane, and in the routine. It was true at the very beginning. After the Resurrection, some of the disciples went back to fishing, some left Jerusalem, others staying locked away in fear. Like us, these men and women didn’t know how to maintain a high level of excitement, even after learning Jesus was raised. They slipped back into the familiar—and that’s exactly where the Lord finds them, and us.

During these seven weeks of Easter, also known as the Great 50 Days, I’ll be looking at the post-Resurrection experience for several of the main characters in the drama 2000 years ago. For the first couple weeks, we get a glimpse of the confusion and tension among even his closest followers from the Sunday Gospel reading. This week, we hear about Thomas. Next Sunday, the Gospel tells of Jesus appearing to the disciples who wonder if they are seeing a ghost. On Easter 5, I’ll ponder the travelers on the Road to Emmaus. On May 5, I’ll look at Mary Magdalene’s experience and on the last Sunday of Easter we’ll see how Peter is reconciled after his denial of Jesus.

This Sunday, the Gospel is from John 20: 19-31. It’s the familiar story of Jesus coming to the disciples behind locked doors. Thomas isn’t present and insists, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

Thomas usually gets labeled as a ‘doubter’ because he wants proof of Jesus return to life. Put yourself in his sandals for a minute. The disciples heard from the women that the tomb was empty. The women insisted that it’s true and that they have seen Jesus alive. Well, that’s a lot to take in. A man crucified on Friday and alive on Sunday isn’t a normal occurrence. Perhaps the women were delusional. I wonder how many of us, if we were honest, wouldn’t like nice, concrete proof of the facts.

Think about how you might have felt to hear the women announce, “Jesus is alive,” without providing evidence of anything except an empty tomb. What emotions do you feel? What doubts do you secretly hold onto?

Then, as we hear in the Gospel, 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.

How do you feel when Jesus is standing in the room with you? How do you explain to yourself where he came from?

I think if I wasn’t there, I would be like Thomas—a little skeptical and maybe a little hurt that the others had an experience of Jesus that I couldn’t relate to. Jesus doesn’t leave Thomas hanging, though. Jesus returns a week later, acknowledging his perfectly understandable confusion and doubt and anger and hurt. Just as before, the doors are shut. However, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.” Jesus meets Thomas where he is in his faith journey. Thomas needs a concrete assurance, and Jesus provides it.

Has there been a time when you have needed proof that God IS? Has there been a time when God has showed up right where you are and with what you needed?

Thomas, confronted with the proof of both Jesus’ death and his Resurrection, can only proclaim, “My Lord and my God!” Even though he had doubts about the reports of Jesus’ resurrection, and wanted proof, Thomas is loved so much that Jesus comes specifically to answer his questions and relieve his doubts. This image by Thomas Devian graphically encapsulates that moment of love and acceptance and belief.

 

What is your response when God shows up in an irrefutable way?

The Sunday Gospel concludes with the statement, these [signs] are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Does hearing of Jesus interaction with Thomas give you hope that God will show up in whatever situation you find yourself in? Does knowing that Jesus loved Thomas so much that he showed up just for him help you know God’s love more?

Easter 1: Psalm 16: New Life

 We are now in the Easter Season or Easter-tide or the Great 50 Days of Easter. It’s the period between Easter Day and Pentecost. This year Pentecost is on May 28.

It is spring and there are signs of new life everywhere. The things that seemed, just a short time ago, to be dry sticks or rotting bulbs are putting on leaves and bursting into bloom. It is no wonder that all ancient peoples had a festival celebrating new beginnings in the spring. New life is to be seen everywhere. None is more dramatic than the Resurrection of Jesus and his triumph over death.

During this season we hear the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus to the disciples. We look for the Risen Christ in our own lives. Today’s readings are all about the promise of New Life that comes to us because of the Resurrection. We remember that, as the Epistle this week says, [God] by his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials…even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy... (I Peter 1:3-9)

During the Easter season, we typically don’t have a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures. The first lesson for Sunday is from Acts. In Peter’s first sermon in Acts, he refers to Psalm 16 when he says, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’ This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. (Acts 2:14a, 22-32)

The Gospel from John 20 tells how Jesus gave new hope to his disciples. Jesus comes to them while they are still hiding behind locked doors. He says, Peace be with you, breathes the gift of the Holy Spirit on them. He tells them as the Father has sent me, so I send you. The reading also tells of Thomas’ doubt because he wasn’t present for the visit, and his own life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord. The reading concludes with the promise to all generations since that these [signs] are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31) We are heirs of the promise of new life that was manifest in the Resurrection.

Psalm 16, written generations earlier, proclaims, You are my Lord, my good above all other…my portion and my cup. The Psalm concludes by saying, You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore. It is a Psalm that remembers God is the giver of all life. The Living Bible translation rejoices, I am always thinking of the Lord; and because he is so near, I never need to stumble or fall. Heart, body, and soul are filled with joy.

What new life are you seeing around you, and in your life during these days since Easter?

Psalm 16 1 Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you; I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, my good above all other.” 2 All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land, upon those who are noble among the people. 3 But those who run after other gods shall have their troubles multiplied. 4 Their libations of blood I will not offer, nor take the names of their gods upon my lips. 5 O Lord, you are my portion and my cup; it is you who uphold my lot. 6 My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; indeed, I have a goodly heritage. 7 I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; my heart teaches me, night after night. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand I shall not fall. 9 My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; my body also shall rest in hope. 10 For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the Pit. 11 You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore. (Book of Common Prayer)

Save me, O God, because I have come to you for refuge. 2 I said to him, “You are my Lord; I have no other help but yours.” 3 I want the company of the godly men and women in the land; they are the true nobility. 4 Those choosing other gods shall all be filled with sorrow; I will not offer the sacrifices they do or even speak the names of their gods. 5 The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy! He guards all that is mine. 6 He sees that I am given pleasant brooks and meadows as my share! What a wonderful inheritance! 7 I will bless the Lord who counsels me; he gives me wisdom in the night. He tells me what to do. 8 I am always thinking of the Lord; and because he is so near, I never need to stumble or fall. 9 Heart, body, and soul are filled with joy. 10 For you will not leave me among the dead; you will not allow your beloved one to rot in the grave. 11 You have let me experience the joys of life and the exquisite pleasures of your own eternal presence. (Living Bible)

 

50 Days of Easter: Honored Women

 In this season of Easter, we’ve seen that women were indeed the first witnesses and proclaimers of the Resurrection. Yet, they rarely are celebrated. We know the early church clearly honored them because their names are remembered and written down.

Mark Roberts of the DuPree Center reminds us, “During the years of his messianic ministry, not only were women taught by Jesus, but they also became teachers of others (see John 4:4-42). Jesus had no problem with using women to help spread the good news of the kingdom of God. That openness to women as messengers of the gospel continued after Jesus’s death and resurrection. It’s striking that women were not only the very first witnesses to the resurrection, but also the very first proclaimers of the resurrection. They were the first ones to tell the male disciples that Jesus had been raised from the dead…It seems likely to me that one reason for this is that God wanted to make it clear that in the church of Jesus Christ, women would be empowered and authorized to proclaim and teach. And the recipients of their proclamation and teaching would include men.”  

Mary and Martha of Bethany. Mary the wife of Cleopas, the Samaritan woman (Photini) are others mentioned in the Gospels. So are Lydia, Junia, Syntheche, and Phoebe, Priscilla, Chloe, Euodia and Syntyche, Apphia, Claudia who are all in the Epistles. Women played an important roll in the early church.  

Women today have a deep well of Biblical wisdom from the New and Old Testament women from whom to learn. There is an impression that there aren’t important women mentioned—untrue. There is the idea that women don’t need to study with other women—also untrue. There is a misconception that women’s ministry is all teas and knitting—untrue.

As Madeline L’Engle says, “Nothing, no one, is too small to matter. What you do is going to make a difference.” The Bible women make a difference, and so do each of us.

Women have been leaders and inspirers of faith across the ages. As women of faith we can learn from them how to live in our own times of change and challenge. During the season of Pentecost we’ll be looking at some of the stories of Bible women with the intention of learning what they can teach us about living in this ever-changing world.

50 Days of Easter: The Other Mary

 We conclude our look at the women who stood by the cross and came to the tomb by meeting Mary, the mother of James and Joseph (Joses). The Gospel of Matthew tells us that at the crucifixion Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee…. After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. (Matthew 27:55-56, Matthew 28:1)

This Mary is also mentioned in Mark 15:10, 15:47, 16:1 and Luke 24:10. Mary, or Miriam, was a common name for Jewish girls. The name recalls the famous Miriam who was Moses’ sister. She spoke to Pharoah’s daughter and saved his life (Exodus 2:1-10). Later, after crossing the Red Sea, she dances with the other women. (Exodus 15:20-21)

We don’t know a lot about “Mary, mother of James and Joseph.” Some scholars identify her as the “other Mary” mentioned in Matthew 27:61. Others think perhaps she was the wife of Cleopas or Alphaeus. Tradition says that her son James became known as “James the Less” to distinguish from the other apostle James in the New Testament. According to Wikipedia her relics are in France at the Church of the Saintes Maries de la Mer, and in Italy.

This painting by Mikołaj Haberschrack (c. 1470) shows her with Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas as one of the “Three Marys.” 

BibleGateway notes, “Motivated by the inner urge of gratitude to Him for all He had done for her, she became generous, faithful, loving and true. Hers was a simple faith and a trusting love. Thousands of Christian women down the ages have been likened to her because she loved her Lord and served Him unobtrusively. 

What can we learn from a woman about whom so little is known? Her life was faithful but she is not famous. I think that many (most) of us live lives of deep faith but little fame. We may think we don't make any sort of difference to the world. There are a lot of problems confronting us every day in the news. It's enough to make anyone get discouraged. Maybe this first century Mary felt the same way. Her son was overshadowed by the more famous James. She is barely mentioned and confused with the several other Marys in the Gospels. Perhaps she felt that she was not very useful. 

BUT--she is remembered for her faithfulness, her steadfastness, her support of the other women at the cross and tomb. She may have thought it wasn't really a big deal. Every time we hold the hand of a friend who is having a difficult time, or call someone just to say 'hi', or send a card or even offer a smile, we are showing the love of God. 

Jesus told his followers, if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. (Matthew 10:42) It is the little flames of love the each of us bear throughout the world that light the way for souls that may be troubled, floundering, afraid, or lonely. Mary’s presence in the Bible assures us that we don’t have to be rich, famous, or even noticed to be important. Mary, with the other women stood at the cross. Mary and her friends went to the tomb. The quietly serving women heard the amazing announcement about the Resurrection before the men.

It can be the quiet servants among us who have the deepest impact. 

Who in your life has had an impact on your faith or upheld you during a difficult time? Can you thank them?

In what way can you be a little light by something small you do? 

Joseph of Arimathea and his Tomb

During the 50 Days of Easter, my blog will be musings by Joseph of Arimathea on the amazing happenings of the time between Easter and Pentecost--between the Resurrection and the Coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. Enter with me into this imagined series of recollections by Joseph. 

I didn’t believe the stories at first.

Yes, it is true that I had requested the body of the Rabbi Jesus from the Roman authority by going to Pilate even though I was not a follower of the man.

Yes, it is also true that I purchased a burial cloth for the man and laid him in my own tomb.

Yes, the faithful women, Mary, Salome, and Mary of Magdala helped me with the rushed burial. The men who had followed this rabbi were no where to be found.

Yes, I carefully rolled the stone into place to close the tomb. It was heavier than I expected, but with the help of Nicodemus, we got it into place.

That should have been the end of it all. I knew the women planned to return after the Sabbath to complete the ritual cleansing and anointing of the body. I would not interfere with what they thought was their duty to the man they called Lord and Master as well as Rabbi.

I heard that my fellow Sanhedrin members requested a guard for the tomb, ‘lest his disciples come to steal his body’. As if the men who hid from the crucifixion and burial would plan any such thing. In fact, the joke among the temple guard was that they ‘ran like rabbits’ when Jesus was arrested. Some of the guard joked about one of them running away so swiftly that he left his clothing behind. Those men would not be planning any secret removal of the dead body to pretend there was a resurrection.

I could have told my fellow members, but I no longer understood their viewpoint. Ever since the talk of arrest and death started both Nicodemus and I had tried to speak up for sanity. It had been to no avail. We were not even present on that night when the man was arrested and brought before the Council. It was only those who Annas and Caiphas trusted who knew of the late night assemblage. By the time the rest of us heard of it, the rabbi Jesus was already before Pilate and there was no appeal possible.

So, except for the ability to bury the dead body in my own tomb, there was nothing I could do. I warned the women about the guard at the tomb. They simply stared at me numbly and nodded. I wasn’t sure they even comprehended that there was danger in returning to the tomb.

The morning after Sabbath, I decided to go to the tomb. I hoped to protect the women from any rudeness, or worse, from the guards. By the time I started out, light was just barely touching the world, and the crazy rumors were already flying.

“It wasn’t our fault! Lord Joseph, tell Caiphas it wasn’t our fault!” At the city gate, I was confronted by two guards from the temple. They looked terrified.

“There was an earthquake!” gasped one. “The stone was rolled to one side by an earthquake.”

“There was lightening!” the other insisted. “It was an angel!”

“We were thrown to the ground by the earthquake. Then we saw women coming. We knew we had to tell someone.”

“The angel was terrifying,” mumbled the second man. “I was afraid to even look at the figure. This was more than a natural event.”

“Don’t tell Lord Caiphas that,” the first guard grabbed his friend by the tunic. “It was an earthquake that dislodged the stone. There was no angel. There was no amazing light. There was nothing, except an earthquake.”

He released his partner to plead with me, “It wasn’t our fault. It was an earthquake.”

“You had better go make your report. I have no influence with the High Priest.” I knew I sounded brusque, but I could not make any sense of the raving of the two men. My inmost thoughts emerged from my mouth before I could stop them. “Perhaps he will not think you have been drinking.”    

“We are not drunk!” Both men responded in a unison of outrage.

“Go, then, and make your report. I will go and see what has happened at my gravesite.”

The two guards lowered their heads and plodded on toward the gate. I didn’t envy them their interview with the High Priest. Caiphas would be enraged that the tomb had been breached—if it had. I quickened my pace. I had to see for myself.

“He is not in the tomb!” The next person I encountered was Salome running back to Jerusalem.

“What do you mean?” My mind couldn’t comprehend what she was saying. Her words seemed even more strange than the guards report of earthquakes and angels.  “Has someone desecrated my tomb and stolen Jesus’ body?”

Salome stopped and stared at me, as if just recognizing me. “Jesus is not in the tomb,” she repeated. “The burial cloth is there, but his body is not. We don’t know what to do. The angel said to tell Peter and the others.”

The woman darted away. I stared after her, then hastened toward the Garden at a trot. Who would have thought that an Elder of the People would be moved to run toward a burial ground? But who would have thought that the miscarriage of justice of the past week could happen in Jerusalem by Jews against one another.

I reached the tomb in a few more brisk steps. On the ground lay shattered pieces of the oil jars that the women must have brought. The area was scented by the rich spices and oils. I stared at the stone that I had so carefully rolled into place. It was tilted as if by some force from within the tomb.

I looked around and saw the place where the guards had been. There was a flask, which I picked up and sniffed. It held the weak mead doled out to soldiers, certainly not strong enough to cause hallucinations. The remains of their meal was also on the ground along with abandoned spears and one helmet. It was obvious that the men I had met left abruptly.

I didn’t see evidence of an earthquake, except for the stone tilted awkwardly. None of the other graves appeared disturbed. As I mulled the evidence, I saw Peter and John running toward the tomb. I stepped back so they wouldn’t see me. John paused just outside the opening. Peter barged straight in.

“He is not here! The Master is gone!” his shocked exclamation echoed from within.

Then John stooped and entered. A moment later both men emerged looking stunned.

“The burial cloth is there, the head cloth is folded up neatly. The body is gone.” Peter spoke in a stunned and barely audible monotone. “What does it mean?”

“Could he be risen like Mary of Magdala told us?” John asked in awe.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to believe any more.” Peter shook his head and stumbled back toward Jerusalem with the younger man trailing behind.

Only when they were out of sight did I enter my loaned tomb. As Salome, Peter, and John had said, there was no body. The burial cloth lay limply, and the head covering was separately folded. I stared for a long time at the incomprehensible evidence. Feeling the need to do something, I gathered up the shroud and carried it from the tomb.

I slowly left the Garden carrying the cloth and not knowing what to think.

“I must talk to Nicodemus,” I told myself. “He spoke to Jesus once. Maybe he will have some insight.”

Easter-Resurrection

Lent is over. Easter is here. 

“Jesus Christ is Risen today! Alleluia!”

RESURRECTION is new life, new hope, a rising from the dead. Through this Lent we’ve looked at some ways to prepare for a new way in our lives. We may have ReSolved to do, or not do, something. We’ve slipped in our plan and RePented. We’ve been ReMinded that we must ReConcile with one another and creation in order to be ReStored and ReCreated anew.
And the COVID19 has invited us, perhaps forced us, to find ways to Re-Invent our lives. To Re-Invent our traditions. To Re-Invent what it looks like to serve the Living God. 

The Easter hymn Now the Green Blade Riseth* uses the analogy of sprouting grain for the Resurrection. As the hymn notes, “When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, Jesus' touch can call us back to life again.” It's a message we need to hear now.
Think about the life cycle of a seed. Isolated in the ground, waiting for the right time to break open, sprout, and force upward to the sunlight. We too are isolated, waiting for a time when we can once again go forth. If God has worked within us during this time (and of course God IS working), then the new life will look different than before. 

During this unusual Easter-tide when we are not gathering for the normal joyous Alleluias in our festive Easter outfits, we can still be assured that “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”. On the phone, or via virtual chats, gathered together at our computer screens for virtual services, and across the distances, we can still proclaim:

Alleluia! Christ is Risen Today!

The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

These new ways of connecting, and the urgency we've embraced them says we are a social people, and we need, indeed desire, to share what's happening and listen to each other. If using technology to connect is the only way-then we jump to use it. If we now wave at the neighbor we barely know because we know everyone is feeling adrift at this time, that's a new relationship. When we break into the sun as 'the green blade [that] riseth from the buried grain', let's continue to share the 'life-giving Spirit' that raised Jesus from the grave in any and all ways possible.

There are 3 collects for Easter Day. I chose this one because it spoke to me of new life-of being Re-Invented and freed from fear and death. Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


LENT BOX

Our Lent box (a small box, plastic bag or storage container) is completed by the addition of a butterfly to symbolize new life and transformation.

Living Lent

The butterfly reminds us that Jesus rose from the grave. So does the image of sprouting grain. Which one touches you more deeply?

Has your Lent discipline helped you grow and change in your relationship with God and those in your life?

Pray this or one of the other Easter collects this week.

The Easter season blog starting next Sunday will offer some thoughts and recipes based on my book A Sampler of Bible Beauty. In our own homes, we can find solidarity with the women of centuries ago by creating some of the foods and beauty products they might have used. We’ll think about ways that their lives were, in fact, limited and the ways they flourished and were faithful in their time. 



*Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain,
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

2 In the grave they laid Him, Love who had been slain,
Thinking that He never would awake again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

3 Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain,
Jesus who for three days in the grave had lain;
Quick from the dead the risen One is seen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

4 When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
Jesus' touch can call us back to life again,
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green

Pentecost: Ordinary Women: Mary of Magdala

Over the past few weeks, we’ve looked at some women who are, on the surface ‘ordinary’. They are simply women who were going about their daily lives when God stepped in and transformed them. They responded to the needs of the world around them and made a difference in social justice, in nursing, and in standing against oppression. Last week we saw that even a woman who might not have actually lived can inspire us to make changes and stand up for what is right.

This week, we come to a rather misunderstood woman. Mary of Magdala. I’ve written about Mary several times on this blog over the years. She is a fascinating woman, even though there is not a lot concrete known about her.

Although blackened by Pope Gregory as a prostitute, there is no evidence of that in the Biblical record. A more likely scenario is that she was a woman of some wealth from the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee. We know that Jesus cast out 7 ‘demons’ from her. Whether this was some sort of massive possession or a way of explaining a dramatic healing of insecurities and fears that kept Mary enslaved, is not clear. 

In any event, Mary became one of the women who followed and ministered to Jesus ‘from their wealth’. The women were the fearless ones who stood at the foot of the cross and went to the grave after the Sabbath to complete the anointing of the body. Consequently, Mary was the one who first met the Risen Lord and to whom was given the directive ‘go and tell my brothers’.

It is said that after the Resurrection she continued her evangelism, even to the Imperial Court.  Far from being a behind the scenes operator, Mary was called to be part of the action. She was not afraid to tell her story. Mary invites us to be activeparticipants in our world, to look and see God everywhere. 

Mary reminds us that Jesus can cast out our demons of insecurity, fear, the past, and whatever else can trouble us. God is for us at all times.  

As you enter into the world of Mary, you might do this exercise from 2015 using images to see which way you see her. This one of Mary turning to see who has called her name is one of my favorites.

Then take a minute to consider what pictures you might use to represent yourself. Maybe a butterfly or an eagle. Perhaps, like me, a turtle is your 'totem' animal, reflecting the need for security. Lately, however, a hawk has taken up residence in a nearby tree and I see her as symbolic of strength and resilience.  

What images of yourself do you have? Do these images truly reflect how God sees you?

Can you start to see yourself like God does-as God’s own beloved?

Lively Lent-Awareness

We begin our journey to the Cross today by hearing about the triumphant entry into Jerusalem in church. We wave palm branches or carry palm fronds home to remind us of that brief moment of worldly glory. Before the service is over, we will also hear the Passion narrative read-a sobering image of the cost of our salvation. 
 
As we conclude our Lent meditations here, based on the baptismal service, we come to the  prayer over the water. The words of that prayer link us to all of salvation history including Christ’s death and resurrection.

Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory; who lives and reigns now and forever. Amen.

We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation. Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

This prayer can be awe inspiring if we really stop and think about the words as if we were hearing them the first time.

Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory. First we are reminded that we come to fullness of LIFE through Christ’s DEATH, which we know is not the end, but the BEGINNING. Our life is to be a reminder,as Paul says in Philippians 1:20-21 that "Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death..For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." 

Next, the prayer of blessing over the water of baptism takes us on an abbreviated sprint through the saving acts of God in scripture. From Creation, to Freedom from bondage…then to Jesus’ own baptism so that we might be freed from our sin to LIFE. Finally we re-member and become one in the burial of Christ, so that we can be REBORN into a holy fellowship! In that fellowship we come full circle and learn to live the promises affirmed:

To “persevere in resisting evil, repent and return to the Lord.”
To “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.”
To “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself.”
And to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

As baptized members of the Body of Christ, the Family of God, we can enter the Holy Week journey in awed expectation. We know the end of the journey is Easter, but every year we participate and re-live the steps on the Via Dolorosa. If we really take time to pause, think about, and experience the Way of the Cross which starts in triumph with crowds clamoring and ends in agony on a Roman cross. All because our Father, who is God, the Holy One of Israel, loves us and desires reconciliation. 

I invite you (and myself) to a Holy Week of contemplation of the journey to the Cross, whether you attend some or all of the various church services offered or if you just spend time each day considering the events leading up to Good Friday so that your Easter Day will be full of new joy and awe as you find the empty tomb!

Transformation when God seems Absent

Transformation is about acknowledging our scars and wrestling with God in order to draw near to God’s grace and truth. So why does it sometimes feel like God is pulling away or absent? The road stretches out empty in front of you and there doesn't seem to be an oasis anywhere in sight.

It happened to the Chosen People-the Israelites-throughout the Bible. Sometimes they turned from God to serve idols of the tribes around them, sometimes it just seemed that God wasn’t there when they needed help. In Exodus, we learn “the people of Israel groaned under their bondage and cried out for help.” (Exodus 2:23) God seemed far away and the people thought that they were forgotten. After all, for 400 years Pharaoh “made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field.” (Exodus 1:14) We know that they were not really forgotten, because we know the rest of the story-we know how God "brought them us out of Egypt with a mighty hand." (Deuteronony 26:8)

In Isaiah God says, “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you.” (Isaiah 54:7) The disciples felt abandoned after the Crucifixion, but Jesus comes and gathers them back with reassurance. While they still doubt and do not understand what has happened, He meets them where they are. Jesus comes to them in locked rooms, on the road to Emmaus, and on the seashore where he has fixed them breakfast. In each case, Jesus reassures the men and women that he will be with them.

Taylor* uses the analogy of a parent who leaves the children with an older sibling as babysitter. We (as Christians) are like that responsible sibling. We may feel like we’ve been orphaned because we cannot see or hear God. However, Jesus promises, “I will not leave you desolate…We will come and make our home with you [us].” (John 14:23) Taylor says this “is very good news for babysitters…there is someone else at home, in us and in those for whom we care, which means we do not have to be God-sized for them. We can be human-sized instead, with room within us for God to dwell and heal all our hearts from the inside out.” Instead of having to be in charge, we can be children together and hold each other's hands.

Edward Hays’ Dragon* tells George “The desert is not always a pleasant place. Our littleness and our inabilities usually come to the surface when we are left alone.” Then the Dragon tells a story that can point the way to finding God when it feels like there is only silence or emptiness.

“This is a story about the Our Father…Secure and comfortable, the Our Father was at peace with his spiritual life…then…a sense of hollowness and a lack of meaning became a shadow that followed him each time he went to pray…he read articles and attended conferences…sought out an Indian guru…his prayer life remained as barren as the Sahara. So in frustration, like so many others, he completely abandoned praying and became involved in social reform. [Even after living for a year in the Rocky Mountains as a hermit he was aware that his problem was still with him. He finds an old man in a cabin on his way down the mountain and shares his story of frustration with the old man, who told him] “You are a special and sacred word of God made flesh. To pronounce your own unique word is to pray the most beautiful and holiest of prayers…God doesn’t create things; God only creates prayers…To learn how to pray is to learn to pronounce your own sacred word-to speak yourself!...You must see yourself as you are. Everything about the original you is perfect. God does not have bad ideas…Speak your own word clearly and with dignity. That is what it means to submit to the will of God…when you are true to your special word, what Jesus said will be true in your life-he and the Father will come and make their dwelling place with you, always!”


Being transformed is about acknowledging that we have scars that need to glow, about wrestling with God to find the Truth that God speaks in and through us. Transformation is also about trusting that God is present even when it feels like God is absent. The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus immediately after his Resurrection. Sometimes we don’t realize God is with us, esp. in the dark and painful times of life. God met the Israelites in their bondage in Egypt, Jesus met the disciples in their despair and lonliness, God will meet us when we think that there is no where to go.

Taylor notes that “when we too are marooned on the sea in the middle of night, afraid that we have come to the end of something without any idea how to begin again…it is probably a good idea to pay attention to [strangers] since Jesus has a whole closet full of disguises…How does any of us know [‘it is the Lord’]?...by watching…by listening…by living in great expectation and refusing to believe that our nets will stay empty…for those with ears to hear, there is a voice that can turn all our dead ends into new beginnings.”
Where are you in being transformed by God? Hurting from your scars? Wrestling with God? Wondering where God is? Listen and you may just hear a messenger offering hope. See you next week when we’ll explore some of the messengers God uses.

Happy Easter 2010

The disciples and women who followed Jesus thought their world was destroyed when the Lord was crucified. Yet, even though they were distraught, the women followed Joseph of Arimathea to the burial site. “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.” (Mark 15:47)

It was the women, not the men, who adored the Lord with their presence, even in His death. They knew that Jesus’ body had not been fully and properly prepared before his burial and so:

“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’” (Mark 16:1-7)

The love of the women was rewarded when they were honored with being the first witnesses to the Resurrection! They thought that all they could do was wash and anoint His dead body. In their great grief they didn’t think about anything except going to the grave to ‘do the proper thing.’ It wasn’t until they got close to the grave that they remembered the stone over the entrance and asked ‘Who will roll away the stone’.

Imagine their conversation on the path to the grave.

“I am glad we were able to get all the spices we needed,” Mary sighed. “I was worried the market might not have them all or that the price would be too much.”

Mary Magdalene patted her friend’s arm, “The cost would not have mattered. I would have paid whatever the merchant asked. Assuring that the Rabbi is properly honored is more important than anything.”

“Wait! I just thought of something.” Salome stopped in the middle of the dirt path. “There is a great stone over the door to the tomb Joseph used. How will we get in?”

The trio of women stared at each other, aghast.

“I’m sure there will be some gardener or passer-by who will help us,” Mary Magdalene nodded decisively, as if her words could cause it to happen.

“Maybe…” Mary frowned and looked at Salome.

The other woman shrugged. Together they followed Mary Magdalene deeper into the garden. With heads bent they did not notice that their friend had stopped until Salome bumped into her.

“Look…” the woman from Magdala pointed at the grave.

“What?” Salome and Mary asked simultaneously. Then they saw it, too.

“The stone is rolled away already,” Mary Magdalene stated. “I wonder who did that?”

She hurried toward the opening. The other women ran after her, heedless of the solemnity of their purpose. At the door, the three women stopped. The shelf where Joseph had so tenderly laid the broken, bloody body was empty.

“He is gone,” Mary gasped in horror.

“Look!” Salome whispered.

The three women inhaled fearfully when they saw a shining figure sitting where the body had been. The figure held up a hand in a calming gesture.

“Do not be afraid; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here,” the messenger announced. “Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

The women looked at each other in astonishment.

“Did you hear that?” Mary Magdalene was the first to speak.

Salome and Mary could only nod and stare at the figure who bowed in blessing and disappeared from sight.

“He is risen!” Mary Magdalene repeated. “He is not dead!”

“What does that mean?” Salome asked almost fearfully.

Mary smiled and raised her arms in adoration. “It means nothing will ever be the same.”

“Alleluia, He is Risen!”
“The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!”

The traditional Easter acclamation rings out in churches and between friends today. The Empty Tomb turned the world upside down as the people of Thessalonica realized. “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also…” (Acts 17:6)

How does your understanding of the Resurrection turn the world upside down? This video is one way that the women’s story does indeed change the perspective of life. (Be sure to watch all the way through!)


What if the women were right?

The women at the tomb did not find what they expected. Our lives should be forever changed by what we find when we open ourselves to God. As Henri Nouwen (The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life) says:

“Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me. And what you want to give me is love, unconditional, everlasting love. Amen."

Like my grandson on the monkey bars, we can learn to trust God enough to let go and not hang on tightly...

I invite you to join me during the Easter season (from April 11 until the end of May) when I’ll be meditating about living more fully and openly, in Christ, based on Nouwen’s book The Way of the Heart. See you next week.