Christians around the world celebrate Easter on Sunday, April 20. This event marks a time when the whole universe was changed forever. The timeless message of Easter has something to say to us today in our tumultuous, noisy, fearful world.
If you saw an Easter display in a store, you might think Easter is all about delicious candy, new clothes, fragrant lilies, favorite foods, and rousing music. Those things are all part of our celebration, but they are not the point.
Easter celebrates the astounding claim that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Executed on Good Friday, he lay in a tomb, stone-cold dead. But on the first Easter morning some 2,000 years ago, Jesus got up and walked out of his tomb being filled with new life.
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It was an idea just as outrageous then as it is now. If you read the Bible, you’ll find this story in all four Gospels. It’s clear that the disciples couldn’t wrap their minds around this event, which defied the reality they expected. They were confused. Chaos ruled.
In St. John’s telling of the Easter story (John chapter 20), Mary Magdalene shows up first. She’s there to care for the corpse of her beloved Rabbi and Lord, but all she finds is an empty tomb. She can’t make sense of it. Then the men show up. They are confused too. It’s more chaos.
Then Mary Magdalene meets the risen Jesus Christ outside the tomb. He speaks to her, and suddenly she realizes love has triumphed over evil and even death. Going to see the other disciples, she is the first person to bear witness to the resurrection. “I have seen the Lord,” she says. In that instant, she is the witness for the witnesses, the apostle to the apostles.
Mary Magdalene’s witness cuts through the chaos and confusion of her time. In a world in which almost everyone expected death to reign and might to be unstoppable, Mary saw her loving Lord and told the world.
Easter morning capped off a chaotic week in Jesus’ life, a week in which he entered Jerusalem with shouts of hosanna and branches of palm. He had a tender meal with his closest followers and one of them betrayed him. He was arrested, tried, and convicted. Finally, he was publicly executed in the most humiliating and painful way the authorities had devised.
That first Holy Week swirled with plots and betrayal. Secular and religious authorities who were just “doing their job” knowingly sentenced an innocent man to death. Jesus’ inner circle were confused and fearful. It was all spinning out of control, except for Jesus himself, who was the calm center throughout.
And yet, chaos was not the end. Evil did not win. Death was not final. On that first Easter morning, when Jesus rose, everything was different.
Love won, not evil. Life was proven to be eternal, not limited. Grace and mercy pierced through the chaos and fear.
That’s still true today. Grace and mercy can pierce through the chaos and fear of our time.
People across the political spectrum agree that our world is a mess. Division abounds. Violence seems to grow like a cancer. Many people fear the future. The headlines proclaim pandemonium. What are we to do?
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Today, just as it was true 2,000 years ago, Jesus is the calm center. He loves us and is ready to offer us the peace that passes all understanding.
The message of Easter reminds us that our world is defined not by might and evil, but by grace and mercy. Easter reminds us of what is most true about our world. Easter reminds us that we don’t need to fear death or anything else.
We can turn to Jesus any time, and he will welcome us into his loving embrace. He called Mary Magdalene, and she saw him for who he was. He can call any of us, and we will see him for who he is.
Find your way to church, a place where ordinary people try to figure out what it means to follow Jesus Christ as loving Lord. There you will meet people working hard to reconcile God’s eternal love with the earthly mayhem with which we all contend. There, in church, you can meet Jesus.
Jesus is love triumphant. He is grace abounding. He is mercy without ceasing. He is risen.
Happy Easter, friends! Alleluia!