Sermon for Easter Sunday, Year C (4-20-25)

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

It's perhaps one of the most haunting and profound questions in all of scripture. Why do you look for the living among the dead?

The faithful women - the ones who stood at the foot of the cross until the brutal end. Who brought the darkness of that hopeless day with them to the cold, dank tomb of their long-awaited Messiah. Their deliverer. The one who would, through love, change their world and their reality. In the dim early morning light they approach the resting place of Jesus. Darkness and despair in tow to continue their faithful care and service to him. They come to minister in love, but to minister to the dead.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?" two dazzling and mysterious figured ask them. 

Now despite the shock and confusion that I'm sure was well underway at this point, I think if I were in this position my pride and defensiveness would kick in whether I were talking to angels or any random passer-by. "Why am I looking here? Please don't patronize me. This is a tomb, isn't it? It's not a completely unreasonable place to look for the dead thank you very much."

But here comes the pivotal point in this story. And I would argue for us in these times, the pivotal point in our story. The two mysterious continue: "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."

And then they remembered.

They remembered that as unbelievable as it was, Jesus told them that this was how it would be. He told them that suffering would happen. That death would seem to win. But that after all that,  somehow - someway - life would reemerge. And that God would do a new thing. Out of the ashes, out of the dust of the old, and the broken, and the dead. A new thing.

And then they remembered.

What if I told you that sometimes all it takes to have faith is to remember. Because you see, despair has an odd way of getting us to forget what we once knew. Or what we once believed deeply. Or what we once trusted, or even what we once experienced. This forgetting is a powerful tool of despair. In it we are lied to, and we fall into the trap of believing that our present reality is set. That it cannot be changed. It can't be salvaged. It can't be made new.

Well as long as all of that is only up to us, we'd be right to despair. Clearly when left to our own devices - when we bow down to the altar of power and wealth and individualism - we as a human race will always end up in a place of despair. Because that is the only lasting gift we get from these idols.

Luckily it's not all up to us. God also has something to do with all this. And this morning we are invited to remember what that looks like. Where it began. And the promise that Jesus gifts to us. The proof that a new thing will come about. That life can come from death. And that our salvation is a gift won by God's own self for us. 

The only question left is: will we accept it? Will we remember?

The day Jesus died, the world ended for those who put their trust in him. Or at bare minimum, the vision they had for what the world would become collapsed. Their vision for a just, loving society was dashed. The hope for long-awaited justice and freedom was gutted. Sound familiar?

And so imagine the emotional and spiritual whiplash the women experienced when they believed that Jesus was alive. It didn't mean they would understand exactly how the kingdom of God would continue to unfold - especially amid continued violence, and oppression, and death-dealing politics. And as we know if we read on through scripture and through the histories of the early church, it most definitely didn't mean that there would be no more pain or suffering. No more fight to mount. No more work to be done. I didn't not mean that.

What it did mean - and what I think the women at the empty tomb somehow understood in that moment - is that the game had changed dramatically. Because the ultimate enemy, the one thing that could end all things - death - somehow had been defeated. And its power was now checked. And the Good News - the best news - is that death still is defeated.

Jesus is alive, my friends. And that means God will win, because ultimately God already has. Don't let despair cloud your memory of that wonderful truth. Don't look for the living among the dead. Choose to live into life - into the new thing that God is doing.

Like these faithful women it's our Easter duty to share this news. When it feels that our back is against the ropes, it's up to us to remember the larger truth of this morning. That love wins. That stubborn hope prevails. And that we have been gifted a new way - a new life - through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

He is Risen.

Amen