Sunday, April 17, 2022
/Easter Day
Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18
The Rev. Clint Brown
Theme: We see what we expect to see.
Now this morning you might think we have something very simple to do. After all, it’s Easter and we know the story and all we need to do is to say our “Alleluias” and to peek into the empty tomb to say for one more year, “Yep, still empty,” and move on. The problem is that while we can all be looking into the same tomb, are we all seeing the same thing? Because, in fact, there are at least three ways I can think of to look into the empty tomb and each of them has to do with our expectations of what we’ll find there. The truth is that you will only find what you’re looking for; you will only see what you expect to see.
One way to look into the empty tomb is to think of the Resurrection as a fabrication – a made up story – impossible to believe. I’m sorry, you say, I appreciate the fervor of faith and that this warms some people’s hearts and gives them something to believe in, but you just can’t rise from the dead. It’s an impossibility. That’s not nitpicking. That’s not being a party pooper. That’s just respecting the facts. One cannot build a life upon something which is so obviously mythological, no offence, so please don’t force me to. If Jesus lived at all and if he died by crucifixion, then death was as final for him as it is for you or me. It is much more likely that what we have here is some chicanery, if well-intentioned, on the part of his followers, who knew him to be a good and decent man and wanted others to know that, too, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that the world has been misled from the beginning.
Now this is all a valid point. If we are the victims of a massive deception, then that has implications. The religious leaders of the time certainly appreciated that if Jesus’ disciples were able to point to an empty tomb and say that he had risen, it could potentially destroy all that they were working to save. Matthew reports that they went to Pilate. “Sir, we remember what this imposter said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again’” (Matthew 27:64). And they requested that a troop of soldiers be placed at the tomb and that, in addition to the large stone rolled across its entrance, that it should be sealed (Matthew 27:62-66). If you look into the empty tomb and expect to see a hoax, perpetuated on us down through the millennia, then that is what you will see. Certainly, that has been one way to see it from the beginning.
Then again, like Peter, we may run to the tomb and breathlessly look inside and wonder just what in the world is going on? We notice the details. Despite the extra precautions, the tomb is definitely empty. The extra seals are broken. The massive stone is rolled away. The soldiers have fled. The cloth that had wrapped the head is, curiously, neatly folded up off to the side in a place by itself. None of those things can just happen by themselves. One thing Peter knows for sure is that he didn’t do it. Is this some kind of a sick joke? Who would do such a thing? Peter emerges from the tomb, looks over his shoulder, scratches his head, and shuffles back home in deep thought pondering these things. We, too, can check out the facts and yet still be puzzled by what has happened (20:6)…and the possibility begins to dawn on us that maybe, just maybe Jesus has been raised? But it could also be that this possibility is just so far outside the realm of our experience that it can’t be believed. In the empty tomb we can see a conundrum, a nut too hard to crack, so we leave it behind not quite knowing what to make of it. We can just ignore it. For a great many of us we leave the tomb scratching our heads and wondering about it, but then life goes on.
Finally, then, we can look inside the empty tomb and expect to see what the Church has proclaimed for two thousand years. Here is a validation. Jesus Christ was God Incarnate who came to dwell among us. He rose again, just as he said, and is neither a false prophet nor an imposter. Because he was resurrected, we can be sure that he was telling the truth. We can be certain now of our own resurrection. And the divine power that brought Jesus Christ back to life is now available to us to bring our spiritually dead selves back to life.[1] But only if we believe. And that’s the rub. You have to see in order to believe; you have to believe in order to see. Mary Magdalene hears a voice behind her and turns around. She expects the gardener and that is what she sees. A second time the voice speaks to her, but this time it calls her name. Then she knew. She knew the second time that turning around she would see Jesus because with Jesus she had a personal relationship. Only the second time was Mary’s turn a turn toward recognition, and that, friends, is the audacious claim of Easter. We are called to turn toward Jesus and to recognize in the empty tomb the unassailable proof that here is our Lord…our Savior…our God (John 20:28).
Today the empty tomb is set before you as a fact. We are all looking in. The question is, what do you see?... because we can all be seeing different things. You will only find what you are looking for; you will only see what you expect to see. Just maybe this Easter you have a turn you need to make, to face directly the one who is calling you by name. Perhaps as you peer into the empty tomb this year you will discover the God who is always looking for you looking back. We see what we expect to see. Amen.
[1] Bruce Barton et al., John, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1993), 389.